According to the Healthy Choices for Your Recovering Body curriculum “The nutrition-related effects substance use has on the body paired with the increased risk for certain chronic disease makes proper nutrition particularly important during recovery”.    The Mason County (EFNEP) Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program Assistant and the Mason County Detention Substance Abuse Program worked with a group of seventeen (17) adult males to help alleviate this problem.  Using the Healthy Choices for Every Body curriculum, participants were taught lessons on MyPlate, meal planning; eating better on a budget; shopping wisely for food; label reading and keeping food safe, in addition to the seven core nutrition lessons.  Food samples of healthy recipes from the curriculum were given to the participants each week.

As a result of these classes the overall diet quality of the participants improved by 52%, food resource management improved by 67%, and food safety improved by 62%.  One client stated “He loved the recipes so much he was sending them home for his wife to try”.